Bio

About me

I am currently the Shanghai correspondent for the Associated Press. My reporting has focused on how globalizing criminal networks are taking advantage ofChina’s rise. I have written about rampant fraud in the anti-counterfeitingindustry -- part of an award-winning series about why Western firms are losing the fight against fakes -- as well as money launderingand synthetic drugs.

Prior to China, I reported from Italy, India and Myanmar for the AP. In India an award-winning investigationinto a leading microfinance company’s cover-up of borrower suicides prompted the state government to press for prosecutions. In Myanmar, my reporting helped reveal that the U.S. let sanctions languish as it wooed Myanmar’s ruling generals. I also showed how crony tycoons were poised to benefit most from the nation’s economic and political opening.

Prior to joining the AP, I was part of an award-winning Newsweek team that investigated modern-day slavery in global supply chains. I have contributed to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, and Harper’s magazine, among others.

Before becoming a journalist, I worked in a developmental neurobiology lab and studied dance. I have also worked as a shepherdess, a waitress, a fact-checker and a failed French secretary. I am the proud mother of two.

EDUCATION & LANGUAGES

I graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, with degrees in interdisciplinary studies and biology.

AWARDS

2016

First Prize, Excellence in Business Reporting, Society of Publishers in Asia

“This is a remarkable, deeply reported investigation into the numerous parties who are involved in facilitating China's vast counterfeiting industry. It is comprehensive and beautifully written. Excellent journalism.”-- Judges

First Place, Business News Coverage, National Headliner Awards

“The Double Dealers Behind China’s Counterfeiting Industry”

2014

First Place, News Series, National Headliner Awards

“Myanmar”Associated Press staff, Myanmar

2012 - 2013

Outstanding Business Story, South Asian Journalists Association

“Lender’s Own Probe Links It to Suicides”Erika Kinetz, Associated Press

“Lured into Bondage”

“It is exactly what great human rights reporting should be: A heavily researched, nuanced and multifaceted look at the exploitation of millions of emigrants merely seeking to improvetheir lives. It produced a powerful picture of globalisation's ugly underbelly. The article, while brief, covered all the bases. It really went beyond the norm. This shows what a regional publication can do with the proper application of resources to a subject. Multinational reporting like this connects the dots in important ways and it is rarely done this well.” -- Judges

Erika Kinetz

I am the Shanghai correspondent for the Associated Press. I write mostly about transnational criminal networks thiving in the shadows of China's rise, with specific attention to the opioid trade, counterfeiting and money laundering.